Oil Kings eager to get out of town

The Edmonton Oil Kings are enamored with their new home, but sometimes, it’s good to get away.

After seven consecutive games at Rogers Place, the Oil Kings were excited to get on a bus for a three-game road trip starting Wednesday against the Swift Current Broncos. They then face the Moose Jaw Warriors on Friday and Brandon Wheat Kings on Saturday.

“It’s nice to get on the road again, getting away from home and getting away from some of the distractions we have at home,” Oil Kings captain Aaron Irving said prior to boarding the team bus for the seven-hour trip to Swift Current, Sask. “You kind of get that Midget (hockey) feel when you’re always playing at home. It’s nice to get on the road and get that team bonding in, for sure. We’ll grow as a team as the season goes on, so I think this road trip will definitely be a turning point in our dressing room. We have a lot of things to look forward to, starting with this road trip.”

The Oil Kings went 1-5-1 on their longest homestand of the season. They concluded the homestand with lopsided losses to the Calgary Hitmen (5-2) on Friday and the Medicine Hat Tigers (7-3) on Saturday.

Their only win came against the Prince Albert Raiders, but there were other strong efforts as well.

The Oil Kings battled back with two late third-period goals to earn a point in a 5-4 overtime loss to Moose Jaw and outshot Brandon 45-16 in a 5-3 loss.

“Probably inconsistent is the best way to describe it,” said Oil Kings head coach Steve Hamilton. “We would have liked to have more production. There were some very good pieces out of every game and then there would periods of time when we would go off the grid and that would affect us. I wouldn’t say all of our parts were working simultaneously and it was noticeable. But that’s going to be part of what we have to go through here.”

Currently undergoing a rebuilding phase after winning the Memorial Cup in 2014, the Oil Kings are expecting to undergo growing pains this season. They have a very young team who they hope develop into the nucleus of another championship club.

“It’s a good locker-room and the guys in there are very committed and that’s a good starting point,” Hamilton said. “We don’t have guys snickering at each other, sniping at each other, they’re a good group and they’re committed to each other. It’s a great place to start.

“There are moments in the game where we look like we’re firing on all cylinders and it’s just getting that consistent effort throughout the night. That’s probably the area where it’s most noticeable.”

The Oil Kings are currently 10th in the 12-team WHL Western Conference standings and are four points out of the final playoff spot. Their three opponents on the road trip are all currently well embedded in a playoff spot.

“Seven games at home is a long time and I think getting out, we just want to go back to playing the way we can play,” said Oil Kings forward Davis Koch. “In the last couple of games here, we have not been the greatest and everyone knows that and everyone wants to be better. I think the road trip is going to do that for us, taking us away from the building, which is amazing, but I think it gets to be too much and a little overwhelming sometimes.”

Despite only winning one of seven games, the Oil Kings believe there were good building blocks put in place going forward this season. They want to build on that foundation on the road.

“Overall, with the results of the games, it wasn’t that good, but I think as a team we learned a lot,” Koch said. “We figured out a lot of things and a lot of pieces and it’s going to play a big role, that homestand, even though we didn’t do very well, just learning about our team and being able to grow with that.”

Heading out on the road will also ground the Oil Kings somewhat, returning to the realization not every team in the WHL plays in a $613-million arena.

“As we get out here, it’s going to be good to get a reality check going into different places, where it’s hard to play,” Koch said. “It’s going to be good.”

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